Garment hanger unit



June 17, 1958 v. E. SPROUSE ET AL 2,839,251

GARMENT HANGER UNIT Filed May 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 luvs/woes Verner E. Sprouse and Trueman I? Jordan ATTORNEY June 17,1958 V,E,SPROUSE ETAL 2,839,261

GARMENT. HANGER UNIT Filed May 2, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Verne/"E. jprouse and Trueman I. Jordan A TTOENEY United States Patent GARMENT HANGER UNIT Verne'r E. Sprouse and Trueman P. Jordan, Columbus, Ind., assignors to Vernco Corporation, Columbus, Ind., a corporation of Indiana Application May 2, 1955, Serial No. 505,122

1 Claim. (Cl. 248-303) This invention relates to a hardware item wherein a number of garment hangers are carried by a mounting structure such that may be applied directly to a wall or to the underside of a shelf, or be incorporated in a shelf itself. The invention involves the mounting of a plurality of garment hangers on a bracket or a shelf so that the hangers will be uniformly located and the hanger mounting member may be in itself secured to the supporting structure without having to mount each individual hanger such as by the usual, heretofore known device, as a screw-threaded shank, or by means of Wood screws through ears of the hanger itself.

The structure embodying the invention is particularly useful in the so called pro-fabricated houses where as much of the assembly as possible is made in a plant before sending the units out to the job. Also the invention is particularly useful to those who are engaged in remodeling dwellings and the like where it is desirable to place the garment hangers at difierent locations rather than having to secure them against a vertical wall or the like.

These and other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent to those versed in the art in the following description as illustrated by the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. l is a view in front elevation and partial section of a structure embodying the invention;

Fig. 2 is a view in end elevation;

Fig. 3 is a view in vertical transverse section on the line 33 in Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a detail in elevation of the mounting of the individual garment hanger;

Fig. 5 is a longitudinal view on the line 55 in Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is a view in front elevation of a modified form of the invention;

Fig. 7 is a view in top plan and partial section of the modified form; and

Fig. 8 is a view in end elevation of the modified form.

Referring first to that form of the invention as illustrated in Figs. l-S, a pair of members 10 and 11 are telescoped end to end to form an adjustable length shelf.

As herein shown, the section 10 telescopes within the section 11.

The section 11 has the upper flat shelf area 12, from the back of which is turned down a flange 13 for a distance and this flange 13 in turn has a forwardly extending underflange 14. The section 11 has a turned down front face 15 from which extends rearwardly an underleg 16, in turn having an upturned leg 17 from which extends forwardly and downwardly a ledge 18.

The other end section 10 has a top member 19 extending a width equal substantially to the distance between the flange 13 and the face 15, that is the insides thereof, so that the portion 19 may fit under the portion 12 in the telescoping action. From the forward edge of the portion 19, there is carried downwardly a face portion 20, from the lower edge portion of which is rearwardly turned a leg 21. Then from the rear edge of the leg 21,

there is turned upwardly a flange 22 to engage under the ledge 18. The members 20, 21, and 22, are respectively in sliding contact with the members 15, 16, and 17. Also the portion 19, at its rear edge, has a downwardly turned flange 23 in sliding contact with the inside of the flange 13, and further has a leg 24 turned forwardly over the member 14, Fig. 3.

A plurality of garment hangers or hooks generally designated by the numeral 25 is carried by the structure thus far described. Each of these hangers 25 is made out of a single piece of wire having an outer forward looped end portion 26 from which the wire extends by two lengths 27 and 28 down through, rearwardly, and thence upwardly through a major bend 29 and into a forwardly inclined zone 30, from which Zone the wires 27 and 28 extend upwardly by short lengths 31 and 32. From the upper ends of these lengths 31 and 32, the wires are continued rearwardly by lengths 41 and 42 substantially at right angles thereto, and thence vertically upwardly through the lengths 33 and 34 to continue outwardly from upper ends laterally into arms 35 and 36 terminating in forwardly turned legs 37 and 38.

To illustrate the mounting of a garment hanger 25 on one of these sections 10 and 11, the mounting is specifically shown in detail in reference to the member 10, Figs. 4 and 5.

The member 23 is punched to provide a free tongue 49 under which may be positioned the lengths 33 and 34 of the hanger 25, this tongue 40 then being bent around those lengths to some such form as illustrated in Fig. 5 so as to compressibly engage upper and lower ends of those lengths 33 and 34 against the member 23. In this position, the horizontal lengths 41 and 42 of the wires 27 and 28 rest on the top side of the member 24, and the upper arms 35 and 36 rest substantially against the underside of the member 19 with the feet 37 and 38 extending outwardly or rather forwardly from the member 23 in substantial engagement with the underside of the member 19.

In this mounting, the hanger 25 is very effectively held rigidly in position vertically, horizontally, and rotatively. That is, the hanger 25 can neither move up nor down nor sideways in reference to the section 10 nor can it rotate about itself. The outwardly extending feet 37 and 38 prevent the hanger 25 upon being suddenly jerked forwardly from bending the tongue 40 outwardly to release the hanger, and the arms 35 and 36 prevent the rotation indicated. The horizontally disposed lengths 41 and 42 and the arms 35 and 36 prevent up and down travel between the members 24 and 19.

In the same manner, the garment hangers 25 are mounted along the member 13 of the shelf section 11. In this mounting of the hangers 25 on the two sections 10 and 11, it is to be noted that the telescoping action of the two sections 10 and 11 is limited by the spacing apart of the adjacent hangers 25 in respect to the telescoping ends of those two sections. In other words the telescoping is limited, for example, by the end 4-4 of the section 10 coming into abutment with the garment hanger 25a when the two sections 10 and '11 are brought into that relationship to decrease the over-all length of the shelf. An end flange 45 may be bent downwardly from the free or open end of the section 11 to enclose substantially the major area thereacross, and have a finger 46 turned under the ledge 18 as means for reducing tendmounted along a channel iron member 50 having a web 51 from which are turned the upper flange 52 and the lower flange 53. In the form herein shown, the flange 52 extends from the web 51 a greater distancethan does the relatively lower flange 53. This permits the easy manip ulating of screws-for instance (not shown) through holes 54 provided in spaced relation through and along the which screws may be also passed for mounting purposes.

Where the holes 55 are used to receive screws, the channel iron 50 may be mounted against a vertical wall or supporting member, and on the other hand where the holes 54 are employed, the channel member 50 may be secured against the underside of a shelf or some over hanging member. Also while it is not herein shown, one of the end holes 54 such as the hole 54a may be employed to have a screw passed therethrough into a shelf so that the entire channel 50 may swing about that screw in a horizontally disposed direction.

' The garment hangers 25 are mounted in the same manner as has been described in reference to Figs. 4 and 5, wherein the horizontally disposed members of the hanger, namely those elements 41 and 42 rest on the top side of the flange 53 and the tongue 40 gauges the upwardly extending lengths 33 and 34, and the arms 35 and 36 bear against the underside of the upper flange 52 to have the feet 37 and 38 outturned thereunder.

Obviously the channel 50 may be made any length desired to accommodate a plurality of the hangers 25 in accordance with the desired hanger capacity. The hangers 25 are rigidly interconnected with the channel 50 so that only the channel 50 itself needs to be mounted to carry the hangers 25 wherever desired. 7

While we have herein shown and described our invention in the particular forms in more or less minute detail, it is obvious that structural changes may be employed withoutdeparting from the spirit of the invention, and we therefore do not desire to be limited to those exact forms beyond the limitations which may be imposed 'by the following claim.

We claim:

A garment hanger unit for attaching to a wall, comprising a generally horizontally disposed channel having a web for bearing against said wall, an'upper flange and a lower flange extending respectively from top and bottom portions of said web in directions away from the wall; a hanger made of wire bent upon itself forming a hook end, from which end the wire extends by separate lengths into a hook shape, upwardly through shank lengths, thence extending sharply inwardly over said lower flange, upwardly by lengths contacting said Web, turning laterally in opposite directions along and in contact with the upper portion of the web against the under side of said upper flange by separate lengths for substantially equal distances, and finally terminating by lengths, each turned substantially at right angles from those separate lengths and in compressive Contact With the'underside of said upper flange; and means carried by said web gripping said web contacting lengths of the Wire intermediate said upper and lower flanges and retaining said hanger against shifting along and away from said web in cooperation with the wire lengths extending inwardly and outwardly over and under said lower and upperflanges respectively.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

